"We know that UK customers are eager to get their hands on these new Kindles, which is why we’re delighted to be able to ship several days earlier than we planned."

Amazon said that the pre-orders will be fulfilled in the order they were placed so not all will be arriving on doorsteps today. The Kindle Touch is available from retailers including John Lewis, Currys, PC World, Argos, Tesco as well as Amazon.

The Wi-Fi Kindle Touch is available for £109 with a 3G version priced at £169. It has a touch sensitive 6-inch e-ink screen and storage space for 3,000 books.